N.H. voted second safest state in U.S. on WalletHub

Friday

Jul 11, 2014 at 3:15 AMJul 11, 2014 at 9:36 AM

By Alexandra Hudsonahudson@fosters.com

New Hampshire recently was named the second-safest state in the country in wallethub.com's “2014's Safest States” report. Neighboring Massachusetts was the only state deemed a safer place to live by WalletHub.

The financial advice website, which describes itself as “The social network for your wallet,” created the report by rating each of the states and the District of Columbia on 26 different factors. That data was then used to create five major “safety” categories that determined the overall results: Workplace safety, driving safety, home and community safety, financial safety and natural disaster ranking.

New Hampshire had a top-3 ranking in three of the five categories, including a No. 1 ranking for workplace safety. It was No. 2 in financial safety, No. 3 in driving safety, No. 9 in home and community safety and 14th in natural disaster ranking.

Massachusetts was No. 1 in financial, driving and home and community safety and ranked fifth in workplace safety. Its lowest ranking was 25th in natural disaster ranking.

“It's important that families and individuals consider safety when comparing prospective locations to lay down roots,” Wallet Hub's Communications Director Liana Arnold said about the significance of the report.

New Hampshire also fared well in the metrics that were used to comprise the five major safety categories. It ranked first in employer health insurance coverage rates, third in murder and non-negligent manslaughter per capita and had the fifth-lowest percentage of residents who spend more than they earn.

New Hampshire only finished out of the top 20 in one category, public hospital rankings, in which it finished 42nd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The metrics used to create the categories were fairly detailed. For example, the financial safety category ratings were based on factors such as the percentage of residents who spend more than they make, the percentage of residents with a “rainy-day fund,” the percentage of unbanked households, annual consumer savings account averages, the percentage of population without health insurance and the percentage of people paying only the monthly minimum due on credit card debt.

For driving safety, the factors considered were fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel, the number of “under the influence” traffic violations per capita, and the pedestrian and pedacyclist fatality rate per capita.

Dover resident Dominic Mutter, 20, a student at the Virginia Military Institute, was impressed with New Hampshire's rating as the second-safest state and found some of the report results intriguing.

“It's surprises me that Massachusetts beat out New Hampshire in (safe) driving because of all the stereotypes in that state,” he said. “But, they do go through more rigorous training to get their license. In New Hampshire, the process is more laid back.”